The History of the Tarantula Faction

The history of the faction that came to be known as Tarantulas goes back further than simply the founding of that faction, as it's 'founding' was merely diplomatic recognition of what was already a reality. Inexorably linked to this history is the history of my former House, House Gereshen. I therefore will attempt to tell the tale as best a warrior can, but would point out that it will be incomplete and reflect to a large extent upon that which I and Gereshen were directly involved in, as that is what I remember. In places, particularly areas where I was not present, I will use the testimony of those I trust to tell the story as truthfully as any Drow can; they will no doubt introduce themselves in their own time. This then is how it all happened, by those that were there.

1091	1092	1093

Albion, 1093: The Tarantulas

By the great gathering of people in 1093, a lot had changed within The Drow. Whilst The Matrons of the three great Houses worked extremely closely with one-another, obvious rivalries were beginning to develop between the males, and in particular Prince Moonstar Moor'den'aar and Canaris. Matron Saravay had decided that Canaris would be needed within the city for some 'adjustments' that were needed to fully secure House Gereshen's power base, and so Canaris sent me, Quesralfein Talris, first ranked Swordmaster of House Gereshen, in his stead. As Prince Varquin was not accompanying us to the surface, I was in command of the warriors whilst Mistresses Rauva, Shianna and Faeryl led us overall as Noble Daughters of the House.

We made camp where the House had camped the year previously, but The Drow now occupied a far larger area as the group had expanded hugely. In fact, we had become two camps, as most of us were spread between the trees in a long line towards the woods near the tavern, but then there was a large camp of round pavilions surrounding a massive Black Tower, out in the open clearing right next to the woods. However, we had little time to marvel at this, as we knew almost immediately that the atmosphere in the camp was not what it should be.

Within a very short time of having made camp, our network of spies was reporting to us that House Moor'den'aar were less than happy with our presence, and Moonstar was looking at having us wiped out. Since then, many idiots have tried the same thing, and have suffered for it, but this was the first. Moor'den'aar had set their command tent up as The tent any visitors would be funnelled towards, and House Gereshen had been relegated to a position at the back of the camp with almost no access from the main gate, and even that was closed off from time to time on Moonstar's instructions. I could begin to see why Canaris had a problem with him. We prepared a small but defensible compound, and waited to see what would happen.

Eventually, a messenger arrived from House Moor'den'aar requesting that Mistress Shianna attend a meeting in their command tent, unarmed. This immediately sent alarm bells ringing in all of us, and without hesitation myself and Mistress Faeryl approached The Fellowship of The Full Moon to cover our fighting retreat should we be attacked treacherously, as we thought likely. Mistress Rauva, First Daughter of the House, decided that she would accompany her younger sister, but she would be armed and in armour of black scales. I placed warriors and wizards every few paces between House Moor'den'aar's tent and our escape route, and had Mistress Faeryl stay in our compound ready to move at a pre-arranged signal. With all precautions taken, and The Fellowship formed and ready to intervene, Mistress Shianna and Mistress Rauva walked down to House Moor'den'aar and entered the tent.

I have never got to the bottom of what exactly happened in the meeting that followed, but it apparently revolved around House Moor'den'aar being afraid that House Gereshen would simply take over again and eliminate them in the process. Mistress Shianna pointed out that the idea was a little unlikely as our Matron was not even present, and we had made it quite clear that we did not wish to be in charge this year. This seemed to calm House Moor'den'aar, especially Matron Shinnane, but not Moonstar. However, he was ignored and the tension lifted somewhat, with Mistress Shianna spending some time drinking wine with Matron Shinnane and her daughters. Mistress Rauva, meanwhile, came out to inform us that we could stand down, but be wary all the same. This we did, much relieved. We knew now that the spirit of co-operation that had been at the core of the victory the previous year was gone, and now mis-trust would become a serious pastime amongst us, as it always is in The Underdark. It was in this atmosphere that The Drow, Beastmen, vampires, goblinoids and humans came together in the compound inside the gates, and heard the proclamation that we were to be recognised as a people in our own right, and given the faction name of Tarantulas in honour of The Spider Queen who so many of us worshipped. The cheers, like so much else yet to come, were muted; how many other surprises did House Moor'den'aar have yet to reveal ?

The answer was not long in coming; the owner of the Black Tower had only previously been described to me by Jabbuck Canaris, but seeing him alive and walking into the Faction compound was a shock none the less. Gever, killed two years previously by an assassin, somehow lived again and made his way to the Command tent flanked by half drow warriors, led by a tall half Drow in scale armour. I was in no doubt as to who he was either; Jackal had returned, but this time he would not get away so easily. Even House Moor'den'aar, who had not been there in 1091, had been told in full the story by Canaris and The Black Kites, and by the look on his face when he emerged, Gever's first meeting with Matron Shinnane was not a pleasant one for him, or for Jackal. I considered him lucky to leave alive, and could see many shared my view, as most people's hands strayed towards weapons. Still their unit, called 'The Eye of Retribution', was large and well armed with shields, and therefore tactically it would prove wise not to alienate them too much, and of course they could ill afford to upset us as they required our support being camped so close to the principal fighting area. Another House that stood out that year were the members of Zommorod A'tesh, who had turned up en-masse for the first time. With their matching uniforms, chainmail and large shields they were also a valuable and formidable fighting force, as many Celts who charged from the bottom woods discovered. They would go on to become one of the most famous Drow Houses upon the surface.

Obviously, matters were not good within the new Tarantulas faction, and as Mistress Rauva had duties that often kept her away from our camp, mainly with the Death Knight we had brought with us, it was left to Mistress Shianna to pay a visit to The Black Kites in order to sound them out as to their opinion and position on the problems. Matron Salix had not journeyed that year, and The Black Kites were led in her stead by Mistress Cortella, and seconded by Lynx, a male who seemed to be a mixture of fighter and mage. Mistress Cortella explained that she thought the root of the problem was House Moor'den'aar's insecurity over their reputation following the victory the previous year, and their negligible part in it, added to their struggles with the common tongue which the rest of us had mastered. Also, Prince Moonstar was unhappy with his reputation being in some way less than Canaris's, which was only to be expected having been around one year less and not done as much, but he could not see this. Cleverly, seeing that Mistress Cortella coveted the position of 'power behind the throne, Mistress Shianna asked what Cortella would advise under the circumstances. Mistress Cortella, obviously pleased to be consulted, advised that Gereshen either lay low for a while and let the problems play out without our involvement, or openly made it clear that we fully supported House Moor'den'aar and would work hard with them for the good of the Faction. Slyly, she added that then we could plot carefully from a position almost beyond reproach, should we so decide. The idea was not lost on us, but it was somewhat unnecessary, and in reality not really House Gereshen's 'style' anyway. Mistress Shianna decided that we would openly support and endorse the lead House, and actively work to promote Faction harmony, whilst remaining alert for any treachery. Mistress Cortella applauded her decision, and promised to impart any information she received that may prove useful to us. Thus the relations between House Gereshen and The Black Kites grew even stronger, while House Moor'den'aar's position in fact grew weaker due to their own paranoia; this has often proved to be the case with lead houses since, such as Naxos de Fey.

That first day saw as ever a large number of skirmishes in the bottom woods outside The Tavern, and once again it was generally The Celts starting the fights, and often The Drow and Beastmen finishing them. House Gereshen's Death Knight was regularly to be found in the thick of the fighting, along with Mistress Rauva, and many members of Eye of Retribution. Jackal himself frequently threw his weight around on the front line, and won several fights using some fairly un-savoury tactics even by Drow standards. However, on occasions The Celts managed to push Eye of Retribution back and The Tarantulas would be called out to engage them en-masse, a task which House Zommorod A'tesh proved particularly successful at; several times I can remember seeing a pile of Celtic bodies at the foot of their shield wall, often a pile outnumbering them several times over. Having a shield wall around suited me fine, as I prefer to fight with either a glaive or spear, so I enjoyed fighting alongside the warriors of Zommorod A'tesh, as did the newly promoted Prince Shar for similar reasons.